


Try

by by_heart



Series: Life on the Waverider [9]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 14:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16725147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/by_heart/pseuds/by_heart
Summary: “Hey, Rory, you’re just in time for the best -”Zari’s face fell when she turned around to see who the footsteps actually belonged to. She was expecting Mick. Instead, she saw Charlie.





	Try

“Hey, Rory, you’re just in time for the best -”

Zari’s face fell when she turned around to see who the footsteps actually belonged to. She was expecting Mick. She had walked past his room twice in three hours and saw him hunched over his typewriter, filled pages beginning to stack up next to him. She figured he would eventually realize he was hungry and need to walk around a little. And she knew he was always game for a good movie in the middle of the night. 

Instead, she saw Charlie approaching the steps into the parlour, still dressed in what she’d been wearing for the last two days, a nearly empty glass bottle swinging by her side. 

“Oh,” she said as she turned back around. “Thought you were someone else.”

Charlie’s boots thudded against the floor as she meandered her way to the couch Zari had pulled in front of the screen. 

“Nah, he’s still typin’ away in there.” She perched on the arm of the couch opposite where Zari sat and took a drink. “You lot keep strange hours. Nearly everybody is up still.”

Zari stared ahead at the screen, movie still playing, though Gideon had turned the volume down when Charlie walked in. “Nighttime is quiet time. The peace and quiet is good for being  _ alone _ to gather our thoughts or whatever. Unspoken rule around here.” She was hoping Charlie would take the hint and leave. She wasn’t interested in talking with her. Now or in general. 

Charlie slid down and landed on the couch cushion with a slight bounce. “What are we watching then?”

Zari took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning to face Charlie finally. “Look, you have access to literally every movie ever made - up to now  _ and _ in the future - in your own quarters, just like the rest of us. How about you just go back there and find something to do.” She turned to face the screen again with a huff. “I watch movies in the middle of the night because I want to be left alone.” She popped a piece of popcorn in her mouth and tried to focus on her movie and hoped that if she ignored the other girl, she would go away. 

She was quiet for a moment, but didn’t get up. She took another drink. “Nobody wants to be alone, love,” Charlie said softly. 

When Zari didn’t reply, Charlie continued. “In fact, you seem to me like someone who wants the exact opposite of alone.” Her tone was pointed, but she kept her face forward. 

“What do you know?” Zari muttered, the question meant to be rhetorical. 

The two continued to stare straight ahead at the movie that neither was watching. Neither turned when soft footsteps approached the room and retreated again before entering. Neither moved save for breathing softly. Minutes lapsed and the only sign that time had passed at all was the movie that continued to play in front of them. 

Zari had nearly forgotten what she said until Charlie broke the silence. 

“I know what it’s like to lose everyone you love,” she replied, sadness spilling from her voice. “I know what it’s like to dream of things that can’t come true.” She put the whiskey bottle to her lips again, finishing it off before letting it fall to the floor beside the couch. “I know what it’s like to have someone’s hatred and ignorant snap judgments take everything good in your life away with no explanation.”

Zari felt suddenly like crying as Charlie spoke. She missed her mother, her father, Behrad. She hated the people who took them from her. She spent a year searching for just a single opportunity to save them, only to realize that to do so would require other lives to be lost in the process; something her family would never want for her. She grieved them all over again. She was heartbroken thinking about the life that she would never get to share with them. 

But she knew that they would be so proud of who she had become, proud of the way she helped others. They would love that she found another family, that she didn’t close her heart off. She knew they would be thankful that others didn’t close their hearts off to her because of some preconceived ideas based on the way she looked, who she was inside. 

She had told Charlie that she found her place - on the Waverider, on the team - at a time when she wasn’t sure she would fit in anywhere again. And that Charlie could have the same, if she was willing. 

And then she failed to show Charlie the same patience and acceptance that she was shown while she adjusted to her new life with new people. She knew it was hard for everyone to see this stranger with a familiar face, but they were trying anyway. 

Because Charlie lost everything too. Her family, her friends, her normal life were all ripped away from her because someone was scared of her without even taking the chance to get to know her, see the good in her. 

Zari realized she didn’t have to like Charlie, and that Charlie didn’t seem to like her all that much either. She didn’t have to pretend it wasn’t hard seeing Amaya’s face knowing she would never see Amaya again. 

She didn’t have to do anything except try. 

Lifting the big bowl of popcorn from her lap, Zari placed it between the two of them on the couch. “Gideon, start the movie over, please.”


End file.
